Bad Bishop
by OneShotSal
Summary: Set in season 11. Gibbs places Ellie on temporary desk duty for concealing her connection to a murder victim. Then she makes things worse by getting drunk and showing up at Gibbs's house to "persuade" him to reconsider. No pairings. P.S. Slightly AU since Ellie can't actually get drunk :-)


_A/N: The title comes from a scenario in chess where a player's bishop can't advance because it's impeded by other friendly pieces._

 _Disclaimer: I own nothing and am not making money off my fanfics._

* * *

"Uhh, Ellie? Can you come take a look at this?" said Tim, staring at his computer screen tensely.

"Sure, what's up?" Ellie walked to Tim's desk and looked over his shoulder at the screen. She suddenly froze when she saw what he was looking at.

"Care to explain that?" Tim kept his voice low so no one else would overhear.

"Explain what?" Gibbs asked, rounding the corner with his usual uncanny timing.

Ellie quickly tapped Tim's keyboard to close the window Tim had just shown her.

"Uhh. I, was just…" Tim began.

"Spit it out, McGee." Gibbs stood next to Tim's desk and took a sip of coffee, waiting.

"Um, McGee was just showing me some of the mistakes I made in my last field report," Ellie said unconvincingly, giving Tim a significant look. She laughed nervously. "Still haven't got the hang of those yet."

"That true, Tim?" Gibbs asked. He took another sip of coffee. His eyes seemed to bore directly into Tim's soul. He clearly knew that it was not true.

"I…No, it's not. Sorry, Ellie. We can't keep this from the team. It might be important."

Ellie deflated, visibly apprehensive, but didn't have a choice but to let Tim speak.

"Boss, I finally managed to log into Lance Corporal Gina Smythe's emails so I could look for possible leads in her murder. I was looking at her email's address book, and…well, see for yourself."

He opened the victim's email again and displayed her contact list on the plasma. The third name on the contact list was 'Eleanor Bishop'. There was no question that it was the same Ellie Bishop. The email address was hers.

Tony stood up to get a better look at the screen. He saw Ellie's name on the victim's email contact list, but wisely remained silent. His boss's facial expression made it clear that this was not the time for jokes.

Gibbs directed a murderous gaze at Ellie. "Bishop? You _knew_ the victim?" He demanded incredulously. Ellie looked very guilty, but said nothing.

"How the hell did you fail to mention this?" Gibbs continued, growing angrier by the second. "What happened, did it just _slip your mind_? We've wasted the last twenty-four hours searching for as much information about her as we can — _to solve her murder_ — and you just sat there watching us? That your idea of a good laugh, Bishop?"

Ellie couldn't speak. She had never seen Gibbs so angry. The others had once or twice, but even they were caught off guard by their boss's fury.

Under Gibbs's penetrating stare, Ellie finally managed to spit out the words, "It's not like that."

"Oh, okay, well why don't you tell me what it's ' _like'_ , then," he replied caustically. "C'mon. Let's hear it. You got five seconds to explain your connection to our victim. _And_ why you lied."

Ellie hesitated. She was clearly very conflicted. She looked helplessly at Tony and Tim, then down at the floor. She still didn't answer.

"Fine. You won't talk here? Maybe you'll talk for the camera," Gibbs said, losing all patience. His strong hand grabbed Ellie's upper arm firmly and he began forcibly leading her toward the interrogation room.

"Wait, _wait_! Alright!" Ellie finally said, half-panicked. Gibbs released her and she stood facing her colleagues.

"Gina… _Lance Corporal Smythe_ …and I — we…" She paused and let out a resigned sigh. "Fine. We _dated_ for a while in college. Okay?"

"Oh-ho-hohhh!" Tony blurted out in gleeful surprise. He stopped short and hastily turned his outburst into a cough when he saw the lethal expression on his boss's face.

"See?" Ellie said, indicating Tony. " _That's_ why I didn't want to tell you guys. It was just a phase, okay? Lots of people go through it in college."

"And you thought it would be okay to hide this from the team during a _murder investigation_? To spare you some _embarrassment_?" Gibbs asked furiously. "We're busting our asses trying to follow _every possible_ lead. To find out _everything_ we can about the victim that'll help us find her killer. And one of our leads is sitting right in front of us, refusing to speak up because she doesn't want to get _teased_."

"No! It's not like that. I mean, _of course_ I would have said something if I had thought that it was relevant to the investigation. But college was a long time ago. We've barely spoken since then."

" _I_ make the call about what's relevant, _not_ you!" Gibbs was nearly shouting now.

Ellie acquiesced. "You're right. I'm sorry. I just…didn't want to drag up these details about a…very strange period of my life, unless I knew it would really be useful to the case. It won't happen again."

"Damn right, it won't," Gibbs said, getting his temper under control. He walked right up to Ellie, causing her to take an involuntary step backward. She backed into Tim's desk. Gibbs towered over her.

"You're off the case," he said firmly. Before she could argue, he added, "And you're off field work for the next two weeks. Desk duties only. This is going on your record." He turned away.

"Gibbs!" Ellie objected.

Gibbs turned back menacingly, eyebrows raised, practically daring her to defy him. Her protest died in her throat.

"McGee," Gibbs said. "Take Bishop's statement." He stared hard at Ellie. "You tell McGee _every detail_ you know about Lance Corporal Smythe. I don't care how small." He noticed Tony's jubilant facial expression, and added, "Not here. Conference room."

Tim and Ellie started to walk away.

"Bishop," Gibbs barked. Ellie turned around nervously. "I'm not through with you yet. We'll talk about this tomorrow."

As they left, Gibbs walked up to Tony, whose grin faded more and more as his boss approached.

"DiNozzo, one wisecrack about this — _ever_ — and you'll be writing the entire team's field reports for the next six months. You got that?"

"Yes, boss," Tony said. His grin disappeared completely.

* * *

Late that night, Gibbs was in his basement at work on his latest project, a large bookshelf. He was tediously sanding the decorative border on one of its doors when he heard a knock at his front door.

He frowned. Nobody had knocked at his door in years. They just walked in. He wondered who it could be.

He went upstairs and answered the door. It was Ellie Bishop. She was leaning on the door frame looking up at him provocatively. Gibbs could smell the alcohol on her breath.

He looked over Ellie's shoulder and saw a taxi drive off. _So_ , he thought. Ellie had gone out to drown her sorrows after being disciplined at work, and now she had cabbed it over to Gibbs's place to give him a piece of her mind.

"Aren't you going to invite me in?" Ellie asked, giggling. She had clearly had far too much to drink. Well, Gibbs thought, at least she was a cheerful drunk instead of an angry one.

Gibbs crossed his arms. "I think a better idea is to call your husband to come take you home," he said flatly.

"He's out of town, aaalll week. Conference in L.A.," Ellie slurred, stumbling past Gibbs into the house. Gibbs sighed and shut the door.

Ellie made her way into the living room, shedding her shoes and coat as she went, and sat down on the sofa. She gazed flirtatiously at Gibbs, patting the cushion beside her seductively.

 _Good God_ , thought Gibbs. Ellie was really out of it. She wasn't a cheerful drunk, she was an _amorous_ drunk.

Gibbs stood in the middle of his living room with his arms crossed. He was rapidly losing patience with his newest agent for the second time that day. "You're drunk."

"So?" Ellie shrugged. "Why should that keep me from visiting my favorite, wonderful, boss?"

"What are you doing here, Bishop?" Gibbs asked irritably. He was about two minutes away from calling a cab to take her home.

"Well," she began, lying back on the sofa. She spoke slowly and lazily. "I was just thinking how maybe grounding me to my desk was just…going a _little_ _bit_ too far. Don't you think?" She gave him an innocent, doe-eyed look.

"Nope," Gibbs replied simply.

"Oh, come on," Ellie said, pouting slightly. "I have a flawless personnel record. You wouldn't want to ruin all my hard work with a disciplinary note in my file over something as teeny, tiny, as this, do you?"

"Withholding information in a federal investigation isn't exactly what I'd call _tiny_ , Bishop," said Gibbs angrily.

Ellie sat up. "Yeah, but I told McGee _everything_ this afternoon. I didn't leave anything out. He was so funny. He blushes easily," she giggled to herself. "Anyway, he said he didn't think any of it was relevant to the investigation. So no harm, no foul, right?"

"Wrong," Gibbs said firmly. "That's not the point. You didn't know if it was relevant or not when you made the call to keep information from me! So I'm going to make damned sure you don't make that mistake again. You're lucky desk duty is all you got. And if you can't see that…then maybe I made a mistake bringing you on my team."

Ellie looked momentarily hurt. But then she giggled again. "You don't mean that."

She stood up slowly, and stumbled around the coffee table toward Gibbs. She stood before him seductively.

"Boss?" she drawled in a throaty voice. "Isn't there… _anything_ …I can do to change your mind? There must be _something_ that'll make you reconsider."

She reached up with both arms and interlaced her fingers behind Gibbs's neck, pressing her body into his.

Before Gibbs could react, Ellie, very quickly considering how drunk she was, tilted her head up and planted a kiss on his mouth.

It lasted less than a second. Gibbs pulled away forcefully and wrenched Ellie's hands from behind his neck.

He had had quite enough of this.

"That's it," he said, fed up. He grabbed her wrist and headed up the stairs, pulling her behind him.

"Mm, I _love_ a man who's rough!" Ellie said, nearly tripping on the stairs.

He led her into the bathroom. Ellie looked around, slightly confused. But then she just shrugged and started to lean toward him again, giggling.

In an instant, Gibbs took her by the shoulders, whirled her around and lifted her into the bathtub. Then he twisted the shower's cold water faucet as far as it would go, drenching Ellie, fully clothed, in icy water from head to toe.

Her scream was piercing, but Gibbs was merciless. He still held her by a wrist. She stood directly beneath the frigid stream of water, trembling and gasping.

"Oh God. Oh God," was all she could utter. She was quickly snapping out of her drunken, overly-amorous state.

Gibbs released her wrist. "Don't even think about moving," he warned, and left the bathroom.

He returned a few seconds later with a towel, one of his old hoodies and a pair of sweatpants. He placed them on the counter. Ellie was still standing under the bone-chilling flow of water, rigid with cold. She couldn't meet his eye. She looked positively mortified. Clearly, she was well-aware of how ridiculously she had just behaved.

Gibbs shut off the shower and helped her out. She started to stutter an apology.

"Oh God," she gasped, shivering violently, still not meeting his eye. "Gibbs. I don't know what the hell I was thinking. I'm such an idiot. I'm such an idiot."

"You got that right," he replied, still annoyed. He thrust the towel into her hands and pointed to the clothes he had brought in. "Put those on."

"Can you ever forgive me?" Ellie asked, half hiding her face in the towel.

"We'll talk about it in the morning. You're still drunk right now."

"I feel so…humiliated," she choked, still trembling uncontrollably.

"Oh, I bet you don't feel half as bad right now as you will tomorrow. Hurry up," he said, indicating the change of clothes. He left the bathroom and closed the door.

After a few moments, when Ellie didn't come out, Gibbs knocked on the door. "You decent?" he called. No answer. He had no choice but to enter.

Ellie had changed into Gibbs's old hoodie and sweatpants. Her own clothes were in a wet heap in the bathtub. She was sitting on the toilet lid with her head in her hands, sobbing.

Gibbs felt a pang of pity for the young agent. He honestly hadn't realized that she would take the reprimand so hard. She wasn't used to making mistakes. She was such a perfectionist. Gibbs briefly thought of his early days as an NIS agent, when his record was clean and all of his biggest follies were still ahead of him.

He gazed down at Ellie. She looked so small and pitiful in his oversized clothes. But Gibbs didn't regret disciplining her at work for a second. Ellie had technically committed a crime by obstructing their murder investigation. Just to save herself a little embarrassment about a past relationship. After all the trust he had given her, that behavior was unthinkable. And then she'd made things infinitely worse with her irresponsible drinking tonight.

Well, she'd pay for all that in the morning, Gibbs knew. There was no need for him to prolong her suffering tonight.

"Hey," he said softly. Ellie didn't look up.

Gibbs squatted on the floor in front of her and gently took her hands away from her face. Her face was red, and wet with tears.

"I wanted so badly for this job to work out," she sobbed. "I can't believe I messed it up this fast." She looked at Gibbs pleadingly. "Can I at least stay around long enough for you to catch Gina's killer? It's been a long time since we've spoken, but I still cared about her."

"The hell are you talking about, Bishop?" Gibbs asked with a frown. "I'm not gonna fire you."

Ellie sniffed and looked at him hopefully. "You're not?"

"Of course not." Then he smiled. "I'm not letting you off that easy."

Ellie laughed through her tears.

"C'mon." Gibbs stood up. "You need some sleep."

He took Ellie's hands and helped her up.

She wobbled slightly on her feet. Gibbs wrapped an arm tightly around her shoulders to steady her, and led her to his spare bedroom.

He sat her gently on the bed and helped her under the covers.

"Thanks," Ellie slurred. She was rapidly getting sleepy. "I really appreciate…all this."

"Don't mention it," Gibbs replied. Then he leaned close to her and added softly, "But you're still in a lotta trouble, Bishop."

"I know," Ellie sighed. Her eyes were starting to close. Gibbs walked silently to the door.

"Gibbs?" Ellie said quietly when he had reached the doorway. He turned around.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Never say you're sorry," Gibbs began. But then he heard a snore coming from the bed, so he didn't bother finishing his old saying.

* * *

Ellie slowly opened her eyes the following morning. The first thing she noticed was that her head was pounding relentlessly. She didn't want to move. She felt awful. She also didn't recognize where she was. She searched her foggy memory, but for some reason, felt inexplicable shame and dread at what she might remember. She couldn't figure out why.

The door opened. Ellie tensed up, not knowing who to expect. It had been a long time since she'd drunk that much.

She slowly turned her aching head, and there was Gibbs, standing in the bedroom doorway, gazing at her with mild amusement.

In a flash, all of the previous night's events flooded back into Ellie's sore head. She let out a long, miserable groan.

Gibbs gave a slight smile. "That about sums it up, Bishop."

Ellie said nothing. She just lay there hoping that the bed would swallow her whole so she'd never have to face Gibbs again.

No such luck.

He entered the bedroom. Ellie still couldn't lift her head off the pillow. She felt indescribably rotten. _I'm never drinking again_ , she swore to herself.

Gibbs walked to the bed and set something down by Ellie's feet. It took her bleary eyes a second to focus on it.

Her clothes. Folded into a neat pile. Bra and panties included.

Oh God! Her boss — _Gibbs_ — had laundered all of her wet clothes while she lay in his spare bed, wearing his clothes, passed out drunk. _God, please take me now_ , she pleaded silently.

"Downstairs," Gibbs said brusquely. "Breakfast in ten." He turned on his heel and left the room.

Ellie wasn't sure she could even sit up, much less get dressed and go downstairs. But she knew Gibbs well enough by now to recognize that tone. It was not to be disobeyed lightly.

Very slowly, she forced herself to sit up. She clutched her head in her hands and waited for the pounding to subside from the effort of sitting up. Her neck was stiff, too. She must not have moved all night.

As she got dressed, trying not to move her head too much, Ellie vaguely considered ways she could get out of this situation without having to face Gibbs. Maybe she could sneak out his back door and just never show up for work again. Or jump out the bedroom window head first, putting herself out of her misery.

She was fooling herself, she knew. There was no way out of this ordeal — which, she reminded herself grimly, she had no one to blame for but herself — but to go downstairs and take what Gibbs had in store for her. She wasn't fired, at least. Then again, she wasn't entirely convinced that that would be a good thing, once Gibbs was through with her.

Her ten minutes were almost up. Gibbs would be waiting. Might as well get it over with.

She went to the washroom and splashed some water on her face. She shuddered slightly at the memory of the icy shower she had endured the night before. But Gibbs had been right: as horrible as that was, it was nothing to how she felt today.

She fixed herself up as best she could in the mirror, and then descended the stairs as fast as her throbbing head would let her.

Gibbs was in the kitchen, frying two small steaks and some scrambled eggs. He nodded toward the dining room table, and Ellie slid into one of the chairs. The smell of food was nauseating, but she didn't dare protest when Gibbs slid a plate in front of her. What she really craved was coffee.

As if on cue, Gibbs placed a mug of hot coffee beside her plate. Black. Not how she took her coffee, and she was pretty sure that Gibbs knew it. But he didn't offer any cream or sugar, and she wasn't about to ask. She picked up the mug and took a grateful sip.

Gibbs sat down and took a few bites of his eggs, chewing silently.

Ellie didn't move or speak. She was bracing herself for the axe to fall. What would it be? Another reprimand on her file, probably. Having to write the whole team's field reports, maybe. Forced administrative leave? She wouldn't put it past Gibbs.

"How much do you remember?" Gibbs asked, sipping his coffee without taking his eyes off her.

Ellie cast her eyes down remorsefully, utterly mortified at the memory of her behavior the night before. She couldn't stop thinking about everything she had done. Wrapping her arms around her boss's neck, trying to seduce him into dropping the reprimand. She tried to block her mind from reliving the rest of the story. She couldn't even _think_ it, it was so humiliating. But she couldn't help it. The vivid memory invaded her thoughts. She saw herself pulling Gibbs's face toward her and kissing him on the lips.

She closed her eyes in shame and expelled a sigh.

"Everything," she whispered.

"Good," Gibbs answered. "Then you won't need another reprimand on your file for your conduct. Memory of last night should be punishment enough."

 _He's enjoying this_ , she thought. But if it meant she wouldn't have to pay for last night's stupidity by being penalized at work — where everyone would find out what she'd done — then Gibbs could torment her all he wanted.

"Eat up," he said, nodding toward her plate.

Ellie picked up her knife and fork and cut into her steak. Blood ran out. Rare, of course. Her queasy stomach churned at the sight. Gibbs was really good at this tormenting thing. She put down her utensils and took another sip of the strong coffee.

Gibbs just continued eating in silence, taking the occasional sip of coffee.

Not quite sure what else to do, Ellie had a stab at the eggs. They were pretty good. She wanted to ask Gibbs what seasonings he had used, but somehow it didn't feel appropriate to make smalltalk just now.

They finished the meal in silence.

Gibbs stood up and brought his plate into the kitchen. Ellie followed with her own dishes, walking past Gibbs to place her plate in the sink. She turned around. Gibbs was leaning against the counter between her and the kitchen door, looking very serious.

Ellie tensed up. Gibbs was about to let her have it. He'd said as much the previous night. Though she was pretty sure there was nothing Gibbs could say that would make her feel worse than she already did, she knew she deserved to be yelled at, threatened, lectured.

"Do you remember when I brought you onto my team?" Gibbs asked softly.

Ellie was a little thrown off. She had expected her boss to shout or call her an idiot. She didn't know quite where he was headed. She nodded nervously.

"You had no field experience. Had never done a criminal investigation." Gibbs smiled slightly at the memory.

"But after the way you handled the Barringer case, I saw your potential as a field agent. I never forgot the way you subdued Gracey. Like a veteran agent. Made me proud."

Ellie felt pin pricks behind her eyes. She tried to blink them away. She suddenly felt far worse than she had at any point since this whole ordeal had begun.

"You deserved a shot at fulfilling your potential," Gibbs continued. "So I made the decision to hire you."

He paused and looked Ellie in the eyes. "I didn't make that decision lightly."

Ellie looked at the floor, ashamed.

"Your performance since that day has been…beyond my expectations. You surprised the whole team. You outdid yourself on every case. And I never once questioned my decision."

He gave Ellie a hard look. "Until now."

Ellie felt a lump in her throat. She was disgusted and dismayed at how much her stupidity the previous day had affected Gibbs, her boss and mentor. She didn't want him to start second-guessing himself because of her. Now she understood why he had been so very angry with her yesterday. It wasn't just about her concealing her relationship with Lance Corporal Smythe. Ellie had made a fool out of herself there, yes. But she had also made a fool out of Gibbs, made his judgement appear foolish. She didn't know if there was any way she could make it right.

"I'm…so sorry, Gibbs," she whispered, unable to stop the tears from escaping her eyes. She held a hand up to her face. "I-I don't know what else to say. This is the worst thing I've ever done."

Gibbs crossed the kitchen and stood before Ellie. He gently placed a hand on each of her shoulders.

"If that's true," he said, "you should consider yourself lucky."

Ellie scoffed. She couldn't imagine her boss ever being this stupid.

"You've made a worse mistake than this?" she asked skeptically, looking up at him. "I find that hard to believe."

Gibbs smiled. "Oh, Ellie. Trust me. I've made some… _spectacular_ mistakes in my day."

Ellie smiled back.

Gibbs continued. "You _have_ to be willing to make mistakes in this line of work. It's a tough job. I don't demand perfection from my agents." He paused and looked at Ellie very sternly. "But I also don't tolerate them making the same mistake twice. Don't forget that."

Ellie nodded, but Gibbs wasn't finished yet. His voice became deadly calm.

"Listen to me carefully, Bishop. I don't make idle threats. When I say something, I mean it. And I mean this: if you ever pull a stunt again like you did last night, I'll fire you without a second thought. And if you even _think_ about hindering another one of my investigations, I'll arrest you myself. That clear?"

There was no question in Ellie's mind that Gibbs meant it. "Yes sir. I swear, nothing like this will ever happen again," she replied earnestly. Gibbs held her gaze a second longer, then nodded to himself and turned away. He grabbed the frying pan off the stove and started rinsing it in the sink.

"Gibbs?" Ellie asked worriedly, "Can you ever forgive me?" She knew she sounded childish, but she couldn't help it; she needed reassurance that she hadn't changed things permanently between her and her boss.

Gibbs turned around, drying his hands on a tea towel. "I already have," he assured her. "What's done is done. No need to speak about it again."

He headed out of the kitchen and motioned for Ellie to follow. "C'mon," he said. "Drive you to work."

Ellie started to open her mouth to protest. She was feeling so lousy that she had been planning to just cab it home and take the day off sick. But she caught sight of Gibbs's stony expression and closed her mouth without saying anything. She could tell there'd be no bargaining with him on this. Today was _not_ going to be a good day.

"Sure. Thanks," she said, trying to sound enthusiastic. She followed him to the front door.

They started to put on their coats and shoes.

"Your husband's out of town all week. Right?" Gibbs asked casually.

"Uh-huh," Ellie replied, zipping up her coat.

"You any good with hand tools?" asked Gibbs, heading for the door.

"Mm, not really…" Ellie wasn't sure where this was going.

"No problem. I'll show you," said Gibbs. "After work tonight. Need a hand with some measurements on a project I'm working on." He opened the door and turned back. "Unless you're busy."

Now Ellie understood. Gibbs wanted her to help him in his workshop tonight. She could tell that it wasn't a request, despite appearances. Well, she thought, it was less of a punishment than she deserved after last night's exploits. And she could think of a lot of worse ways to spend an evening.

"Sounds fun," she answered, realizing that she meant it.

They stepped outside. The harsh glare of daylight hit her eyes and amplified her headache. She raised a hand to shield her eyes, silently reaffirming to herself that she would never drink again. At least not as long as she was working on this team.

"You should be glad you don't have to do field work today," said Gibbs, smiling at her discomfort.

As they walked toward Gibbs's car, he suddenly said, "Oh, and Bishop? One more thing."

He reached up with his left hand and gave Ellie a solid slap on the back of the head. It resonated like thunder through her excruciatingly sore skull. She stopped and sucked in a breath, grabbing her temples. Gibbs walked past her to the driver's side of his car. Before getting in, he looked back at Ellie and winked.

Ellie smiled in spite of the pain, and followed her boss to the car.


End file.
